A wild animal coach highlighted in the preferred Netflix sequence “Tiger King” has been convicted of wildlife trafficking in Virginia, the lawyer general’s workplace introduced Tuesday.
Bhagavan “Doc” Antle was accused of illegally purchasing endangered lion cubs in Frederick County, Virginia, for show and profit at his South Carolina zoo, Attorney Typical Jason Miyares stated in a news launch. A jury convicted Antle on Friday of two felony counts each and every of wildlife trafficking and conspiring to wildlife site visitors.
Antle, who owns the Myrtle Beach Safari, appeared in “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Insanity,” a Netflix documentary miniseries that focused on tiger breeders.
The jury acquitted Antle of 5 counts of animal cruelty and Judge Alexander Iden dismissed four added animal cruelty fees against Antle and all prices in opposition to his two grownup daughters, The Winchester Star reported.
Prosecutor Michelle Welch claimed Myrtle Beach front Safari’s valuable petting zoo motivated Antle to keep a regular source of immature lion cubs that he purchased from Wilson’s Wild Animal Park in the vicinity of Winchester, contacting the arrangement a “cub pipeline” from Virginia to South Carolina.
When Antle and Keith Wilson, the park’s former operator, started carrying out small business in 2015, it was still lawful to acquire and market lions, Welch reported. But following lions had been designated as an endangered species in December 2015, lions could only be traded amongst zoos and wildlife preserves that were section of an founded breeding system and experienced permits. There were 3 unlawful cub exchanges in 2017, 2018 and 2019, Welch reported.
Antle was indicted in 2020 on various offenses together with felony counts of wildlife trafficking and conspiracy. In August 2019, 119 animals — together with lions, tigers, bears, camels, goats and h2o buffalo — were seized from Wilson’s roadside zoo following a decide uncovered that Wilson “cruelly addressed, neglected, or deprived” the animals of sufficient treatment.
Wilson testified that Antle paid him in progress below the guise of a donation. He explained Antle paid out $2,500 to $3,000 for every cub with the exception of the 2017 transaction when Antle traded 3 lynx kittens for three lion cubs.
Wilson is billed with 9 misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty and 10 felony counts of promoting an endangered species and a listening to in his scenario is scheduled for Friday.
Defense lawyer Erin Harrigan named Antle’s prosecution politically enthusiastic in reaction to a rising community outcry from wild animals becoming exploited for entertainment functions.
“This has been an agenda in search of a crime from the starting of the investigation,” Harrigan said.
Harrigan preserved that the cubs were gifts and Antle sent Wilson donations for an expanded tiger habitat.
“These ended up not product sales,” Harrigan mentioned.
Iden permitted Antle, who faces up to 20 yrs in prison, to keep on being no cost on bond pending sentencing on Sept. 14.
